


Waking Up

by ViviChick



Category: True Blood
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-20
Updated: 2009-12-20
Packaged: 2017-10-04 19:04:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/33123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ViviChick/pseuds/ViviChick
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sookie is just trying to hold herself together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Waking Up

**Author's Note:**

  * For [throughadoor](https://archiveofourown.org/users/throughadoor/gifts).



                The sound of the gravel churning under her tires made her want to scream. How could she be sitting still in a car? All Sookie wanted to do was run through the woods and across the graveyard, finding Bill in his home at his piano. Safe and thoroughly bewildered at her agitated demeanor, Bill would take her in his arms and lead her to the couch. And once she had described this horrible hallucination, he would chuckle, kiss her forehead and say that nothing could ever take him away from his Sookie.

_                Yes, that is exactly what will happen_, she told herself. Then why couldn’t she make herself move?

                The car came to a stop by the back door of the Stackhouse ancestral pile. Sookie heard Tara gently telling her that they were home. Now that she was so close to the Compton house, she couldn’t make herself go looking for Bill. The confirmation that tonight’s events had really, truly happened would shatter something inside her. All Sookie had to do was not look tonight. _I can keep it together if I don’t look._

                Tara was now standing just outside the open passenger door, telling her gently again that they were home. Sookie forced herself look at her best friend and mumble a thank you before she began to climb from the vehicle. Suddenly all her previous anxious energy drained away, seemingly into the ground beneath her. Her bones felt made of granite as she let Tara lead her up the back stairs.

                The house was still not back to normal yet. Pieces of furniture were gathered by item in their approximate original location. The three remaining legs of the coffee table were laid on top of the splintered surface; nearby, the stuffed arms of the old green couch were leaned up against each other, like a child’s pillow fort, against the cushions that had hemorrhaged their feather filling. Sookie drifted through it all, barely seeing the disorder and damage.

                Standing by the edge of her old, familiar bed, Sookie allowed herself to focus only on the rituals of preparing for sleep. Earrings unfastened and placed in their assigned drawer; hair released from its comb and pins; shoes slipped off and nudged towards the closet, to be addressed in the morning. Face scrubbed clean of make-up and wearing a tank top and pair of drawstring pajama bottoms, Sookie slipped beneath the one quilt that had survived Maryann’s invasion. Eyes that had seen far too much in the past weeks began to drift downward, darkening her vision. Her leaden soul pulled her into the relief of sleep.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

                Only one light remained on in the far edge of the large, crimson and grey room, casting shadows. A gentle, faintly orange flicker from the hotel bedroom’s fireplace shifted the patches of dark. Sookie was alone and afraid, though she was quite comfortable on a soft, black couch and there seemed to be no imminent threat. She sat, alternately staring at her hands, clasped on her bare knees and the changing shapes the flickering firelight cast on the carpet. As she lifted her hands, nervously smoothing out imagined wrinkles in her red and white gingham dress, a shard of harsh yellow light sliced across the plush carpet pile, leading her eyes towards the now open door. His silhouette filled the doorway, nearly blocking all view of the hall. Sookie could not see his face in the shadows, but knew who it was. She felt instantly calmer and much more at peace; Eric.

                Not making a sound, he covered the distance between them in three strides and stood, simply allowing her to either accept or reject his presence.

                Sookie looked up, holding out her hand. She had to feel him close, about to confirm what she had guessed. “Bill is gone.”

                “I know.” Eric quietly said, allowing her to pull his tall frame to the cushion beside her, “I am so sorry.”

                Sookie leaned forward, resting her forehead just below the collar of his t-shirt. “No.” She kept her voice neutral, but couldn’t stop her lips from quirking upwards “You’re not.”

                “But I am, dear one.” Eric gently protested, pulling her small body to fit more closely to his own. “I feel what you feel. I regret your pain.”

                “You and Bill never liked each other.” Sookie pointed out, readjusting her cheek to rest against his cool neck. She breathed in his scent. Like dry, autumn leaves and winter evening wind all at once. She liked to imagine it’s what his homeland must smell like.

                “True. But you cared for him. His loss causes you pain. For that I am sorry.” He explained in his deep, soothing monotone, wrapping his arms more completely around her. Acceptance and peaceful calm; that is what filled Sookie’s mind.

                “Nothing could ever take me away from you.” He said leaning farther back into the cushions, pulling her legs to lie across his lap. He wrapped an arm around her back, his large hand tangled in her blonde hair; his other hand just above her knee, his thumb repeating small, hypnotic circles on her skin. “I know you fear losing those you love. You’ve lost so many already.”

                Sookie smiled and shot back teasingly, “Now, who said anything about love?” she caught her lower lip in her teeth as he playfully growled in her ear and stood up, carrying her effortlessly through the double doors and into the softly lit bedroom.

                “You have had my blood. You don’t have to _say_ anything.”  Eric gazed into her eyes with an expression of soft wonder and knowing. She could not stop examining him; his cheekbones, his eyelashes, the strong line of his nose, his shoulders- all of them calling to her fingertips to touch and memorize.

                When he placed her on the edge of the bed, she reached for his face with both her hands, pulling him towards her lips. Suddenly, Sookie felt an urgent need to consume him. Kissing Eric wouldn’t be enough. He had to belong to her completely before she would be satisfied.

                Eric growled low in his chest, spurred on by her demand and passion. His large, cool hands, which he had rested on her knees as he knelt before her, began to drift achingly slowly upwards along her tan thighs. Sookie felt safe, complete, loved.

                He stopped and pulled away from her kiss, his beautiful face concerned and thoughtful, “I will help you in any way I can. Your happiness is mine. And I always protect what’s mine, Sookie.”

                She closed the space he’d retreated and whispered against his lips, “You’re a good man. I see through that mask you show everyone else.”

                “You wear your mask better than I do mine. Even now.” He pushed up and forward, guiding her onto her back to lay on the soft mattress, covering her body with his, He gave into another hungry kiss before locking eyes with her again, “Let me in. Let me see you. You don’t have to be alone in this.”

                “I trust you, Eric.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

                Feeling the sensation of surfacing from a warm pool of viscous, clinging liquid, Sookie jolted awake. She was in her own bed in her own room in her own house. She was alone. Glancing at the little ancient alarm clock with the glowing red numbers that sat on her nightstand, Sookie saw that just over one hour had passed. Dawn was still several long hours away. Right beside her alarm clock was her cell phone. Before the thought had formed fully in her brain, she had the phone in her hand and was dialing the number in Shreveport. After Pam’s slightly bored greeting and instruction that Eric would pick up shortly, Sookie found herself on hold.

                For the first time since Bill disappeared, she allowed herself to cry.


End file.
